Rotten Reviews: Mark Twain

"A hundred years from now it is very likely that 'The Jumping Frog' alone will be remembered." ~Harry Thurston Peck, The Bookman, 1901

Review of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain:
"A gross trifling with every fine feeling ... Mr. Clemens has no reliable sense of propriety." ~Springfield Republican, 1884

It's funny now almost a hundred years after Mark Twain's death that he is remembered as a preeminent American humorist. There have been countless movie versions of his novels and stories, several film biographies, at least one award-winning one-man play [Mark Twain Tonight], an important comedy prize [The Mark Twain Prize] and books that have been in print continually since their original publication. Now, of course, his work is also available online.

The two quotes above simply do not take his overwhelming popularity into account. He was popular during his lifetime and remains so today. If you're not familiar with Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Clemens, start with his biography and famous quotes on a multitude of subjects.

He talked about the weather a lot, too, one of my favorite subjects. "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco," has been commonly misattributed to Mark Twain. [I grew up in Western Washington and always heard it this way, "The mildest winter I ever spent was a summer on Puget Sound." But one line he did say and it is as true now as when he first uttered it is: "Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it."

My all-time favorite Mark Twain quote is particularly applicable today: "Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

Mark Twain was a nineteenth century early adapter in that he used a typewriter. Here's what he had to say about typewriters:

Please do not even divulge the fact that I own a machine. I have entirely stopped using the Type-Writer, for the reason that I never could write a letter with it to anybody without receiving a request by return mail that I would not only describe the machine but state what progress I had made in the use of it, etc., etc. I don't like to write letters, and so I don't want people to know that I own this curiosity-breeding little joker.
- Letter, 3/19/1875

...I will now claim -- until dispossessed -- that I was the first person in the world to apply the typewriter to literature...The early machine was full of caprices, full of defects -- devilish ones. It had as many immoralities as the machine of today has virtues. After a year or two I found that it was degrading my character, so I thought I would give it to Howells...He took it home to Boston, and my morals began to improve, but his have never recovered.
- "The First Writing Machines"

He also used and promoted a new hand-held writing instrument, the fountain pen. The manufacturer still sells the pen Mark Twain loved and used. Check it out here.

From the Mark Twain House and Museum website, "As his literature provides insight into the past, the events of his personal life further demonstrate his role as an eyewitness to history. During his lifetime, Mark Twain watched a young United States evolve from a nation torn apart by internal conflicts to one of international power. He experienced the country's vast growth and change -- from westward expansion to industrialization, the end of slavery, advancements in technology, big government and foreign wars. And along the way, he often had something to say about the changes happening in America." Read more here.

I hope you'll spend some time with one of America's most entertaining writers. For the previous Rotten Review, click here. Thanks!

Enjoy!